formatting completely/irreversibly a hard drive

[Maurice]

Hello:

I'm looking to a utility (free if possible) who can format/delete completely
a hard disk, so it's impossible to recover data with any software doing
unformat or undelete.
In the past, using debug it was possible to do low level format.

any help is appreciated.

thanks
Maurice

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

http://www.google.com/products?q=sledgehammer&hl=en&aq=f

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm looking to a utility (free if possible) who can format/delete completely
a hard disk, so it's impossible to recover data with any software doing
unformat or undelete.

There are many such programs. You can do a search for one or wait for
a recommendation.

But with any of them, I would be wary about the word "impossible."
Although there are those who claim that this kind of program makes it
impossible, there are others who claim that sophisticated techniques
can get around what they do.

They certainly make it extremely difficult to recover anything, but
you'll have to decide for yourself whether you believe their claims
that it's impossible.

In the past, using debug it was possible to do low level format.

A true low-level format would destroy any modern drive. What some
people call a low-level format these days is generally just writing of
zeros to the drive.

 

[Paul]

Hello:

I'm looking to a utility (free if possible) who can format/delete completely
a hard disk, so it's impossible to recover data with any software doing
unformat or undelete.
In the past, using debug it was possible to do low level format.

any help is appreciated.

thanks
Maurice

http://www.dban.org/

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

The Secure Erase project, uses an erasing capability built into
the hard drive itself. Secure Erase is not available on SCSI.
Before using Secure Erase, read *all* the documentation.
There is some topic material about "passwords" you should read.

DBAN has the issue, that it can erase all the drives connected
to the computer. Unplug any drives you don't want erased. A few
people managed to erase their backup drive (and then asked on
the DBAN forum, whether the data could be recovered or not ).
So don't repeat that mistake. Be absolutely sure you know what
is it going to erase, before pushing the button.

If the drives use a HPA (Host Protected Area), that can complicate
erasure. If you didn't put user data up there, there is nothing to
worry about. There won't be too many instances, where an HPA is
involved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area

Paul

 

[Maurice]

Hello:

I'm looking to a utility (free if possible) who can format/delete
completely a hard disk, so it's impossible to recover data with any
software doing unformat or undelete.
In the past, using debug it was possible to do low level format.

any help is appreciated.

thanks
Maurice

Thanks, all!!